American R&B star Usher has pushed back against reports of a heated confrontation with Justin Bieber at Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s star-studded Oscars afterparty, saying the account circulating in the media overstated what actually took place.
TMZ first reported that Usher approached Bieber at the party with “energy and anger,” leading to a “heated exchange.” Sources close to Bieber told the outlet there was no physical contact, but that the encounter was intense.
Usher, however, is not accepting that version of events. Speaking through close friend and rapper Da Brat on The Rickey Smiley Show, he sought to set the record straight. “I spoke to Usher, and he said, ‘This is an exaggeration of the conversation,'” Da Brat said, adding that Usher has consistently supported Bieber through various personal challenges over the years. “Usher wishes him nothing but the best, and they have no hostility towards each other,” she said, describing the two as genuinely fond of one another despite the headlines.
The Oscars ceremony took place on Sunday, March 15, and Beyoncé and Jay-Z hosted their annual Gold Party at the Chateau Marmont, attended by Oscar winners Michael B. Jordan and Ryan Coogler, as well as Taylor Swift, Travis Kelce, Teyana Taylor, and Timothée Chalamet, among others.
The reported clash sits against a backdrop of a relationship that has grown visibly cooler in recent years. Bieber declined an invitation to perform alongside Usher at the 2024 Super Bowl halftime show and later unfollowed him on social media. Insiders have suggested Usher has felt increasingly brushed aside by his former protégé, believing his foundational role in Bieber’s rise to fame has gone unacknowledged.
More recent reports have linked the underlying tension to Bieber’s complicated feelings about his early years in the industry, particularly in the wake of sexual offense charges brought against Sean “Diddy” Combs in late 2024. Usher, who mentored Bieber and was himself a mentee of Combs, has been drawn into those reflections.
Usher and Bieber built one of the most celebrated mentor-protégé relationships in pop music history after the “Yeah!” singer partnered with manager Scooter Braun in 2008 to sign the young Canadian artist. They collaborated on several tracks and were last seen together publicly in 2022.
